Hypothetically speaking, do you have to be a cook to own a restaurant?

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Basically, I ask this because I heard about Les Wexner (a billionare living in my hometown) the CEO of Limited Brands; parent company of Vicotira Secret, Express Jeans, Bath and Body Works, Justice, etc. . He started off with only $5,000 and opened up The Limited which was a sportswear clothing store for women. He didn’t design anything but he just owned the store and ran it. After seeing some success he opened other stores and some how made Victoria Secret very successful. I envy him and admire Les wexner!

My family owns a small mall strip with an Asian grocery that has been in business for almost 30 years. It also caters to African, Jamican, and other products. MANY of the Carribean and Asian stores buy products from us for their restaurant. My dad gave the restaurant business to his brother which makes far more profit than us and makes me a bit jealous…plus he doesn’t pay much rent for it. Oh yeah, people drive 2 hours just to shop here and eat here.

I was just thinking how can I do what Les Wexner did and open up more shops? I feel like the restaurant would be far more easier to open because it’s profitable and everyone likes to eat. Sadly, I don’t own the business…my uncle does and maybe my cousins would want it. With the grocery, I feel like it’d be more of a challenge because I’d have to know WHERE the minorities are at. I know a store like this wouldn’t do well in California or NY with PLENTY of ethnic shops =\ Don’t you agree? Also, our shop isn’t super nice like Wal-mart and high tech but a Mom and Pop shop with a decent sized building.

So, what did Les Wexner do? Just buy out companies? It’s so sad that I’m in Small Business management but my university didn’t teach me about this >_< Also, my dad doesn’t agree with opening another location cuz he believes employees would steal from him. He’s very untrusting lol

Again, I feel restaurants are far more profitable than Grocery but I don't know how to cook that great LOL

If you want to read about multi-billionare owner of Limited Brands please GOOGLE "Les Wexner"

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Member

"Have to be a cook to own a restaurant?" NO. You have to be good at running a restaurant. Two different things.

Part of being a good restaurant owner/manager will, of course, include a talent for hiring good chefs and kitchen personnel. But there's also a lot more ingredients in the success recipe (sorry, couldn't resist), such as marketing, purchasing and dealing with vendors, theme and decor, labor laws, managing the wait staff, financial management, and so on. No single individual possesses expertise in all those areas, and so the better restaurants will be owned by someone who has talent in one or two of these key areas, and who hires (or partners with) others who can cover the other bases.

A good chef is absolutely a valuable component in a successful restaurant, but there are other talents that must be present as well. There's no requirement that to be an owner you must be the one wearing the chef hat, so long as somebody in the joint is wearing the chef hat with skill and talent.

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Of course you don't have to cook to open a restaurant. Do you think Donald Trump gets out there and actually builds buildings with his bare hands?

You can hire others with specific talents to do the day to day work. What you do need, as ArcSine is pointing out, is an understanding of the business and a nose for recognizing the talents you need in others. That is a very different skill.

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Active Member

When you own a business, what you have to learn is hot to manage the business - not to do the specifics - like as what you said - restaurant. You don't need to be a chef when you want to own a restaurant. What you need is to pursue the important components of owning a restaurant (or any type of business) and then managing it well. Though it may become an advantage when you know something than just managing your business - it does not actually recommends you to be like it.

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Premium Member

Like the others say, you don't need to be a cook to open a restaurant, but you had better understand how to make a restaurant profitable. Restaurants are among the toughest businesses out there. Most fail. A few more make a decent profit. A few elite few do phenomenally well.

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You don't need to be a cook to run a restaurant but you must have complete knowledge of administrative work and you should easily understand market. Its also to decide that what kind of restaurant you are starting on s specific place and what kind of foods you are providing. Operating a restaurant mainly requires good management skills and professional staff. You need to have strong administrative power to hire perfect staff for certain task and arrange for the best equipment with you can afford for your place.

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